


The Dog Days Are Over

by WildWolf25



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Bathing/Washing, Cat Ears, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dog Tags, Fluff, M/M, Percico Summer Event 2019, Sick Character, Sick Fic, it's just a cold don't worry, just something cute and wholesome, taking care of a sick character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-20 12:39:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19376881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WildWolf25/pseuds/WildWolf25
Summary: “Nico… I’m dying.”  Percy croaked.  “I bequeath all my earthly possessions to you… give my sword to anyone but Jason.  Tell Annabeth I’m sorry I spilled coffee on her laptop.  Don’t tell Chiron I was the one to convince the Aphrodite kids to braid flowers into his tail.  I hope we will meet again in the Underworld… I’ll tell your dad you say hi…” He broke off with a loud sneeze, then groaned loudly in pain as the sudden movement caused the pressure in his head to increase and throb harder.Nico rolled his eyes and set down a mug of hot lemon tea with honey and ginger on the bedside table.  “Felicita.And you’re not dying.  The Apollo campers said you have the rhinovirus -- the common cold.  You’ll be fine in a few days.”(When a summer cold knocks Percy off his feet, Nico is there to help him feel better)





	The Dog Days Are Over

**Author's Note:**

> For the Percico Summer Event 2019 on tumblr 
> 
> Week 3: ｜Dog days ｜only dogs catch colds in summers ｜ sun
> 
> I’ve never heard the phrase “only dogs catch colds in summer”, so I wasn’t sure what it meant or how to incorporate it here. But I do know “the dog days are over” by Florence + the Machine. And then I went with nekomimi (inumimi?) because, well, why not? They’re cute, and it’s a trope I don’t see enough of here. So Nico has cat ears, Percy has dog ears.

“Nico… I’m dying.”  Percy croaked. “I bequeath all my earthly possessions to you… give my sword to anyone but Jason.  Tell Annabeth I’m sorry I spilled coffee on her laptop. Don’t tell Chiron I was the one to convince the Aphrodite kids to braid flowers into his tail.  I hope we will meet again in the Underworld… I’ll tell your dad you say hi…” He broke off with a loud sneeze, then groaned loudly in pain as the sudden movement caused the pressure in his head to increase and throb harder.  

Nico rolled his eyes and set down a mug of hot lemon tea with honey and ginger on the bedside table.  “ _ Felicita _ .  And you’re not dying.  The Apollo campers said you have the rhinovirus -- the common cold.  You’ll be fine in a few days.”  

“Is it called that because it feels like a rhino stabbed its horn through my head?”  Percy whined, burrowing deeper into his blanket burrito.  

“Mm, probably not.”  Nico took a seat beside his boyfriend’s bundled-up form.  “It’s probably Greek or Latin or something, like everything else in the medical world thanks to Apollo’s kids.  Hey, I brought you tea.” He gently tugged at the blanket Percy had burrowed into. He was so deep in there that just the top of his dark, tousled hair and his floppy, chocolate-lab dog ears were poking out.  Percy grumbled unintelligibly under the blanket, apparently not intent on coming out for a while. Nico scratched under one of his ears and heard a muffled, congested-sounding sigh as Percy relaxed further into the bed.  Dog types like Percy and cat types like Nico typically didn’t get along as friends let alone romantically, but somehow, a relationship between the two of them had always felt natural. That wasn’t to say it was  _ easy  _ \-- Percy was constantly dragging Nico outside when he would rather be curled up reading a book in the sun on the couch inside, and Nico had at first come off as cold and uncaring before Percy realized that the two of them just had very different ways of expressing affection -- but the love they felt for each other made up for the bumps they encountered in the road, and made it worth it. 

Nico was content to let him rest a bit longer, just petting between his ears, but after a few minutes he coaxed him out of the blankets again.  “Come on, babe, you should drink your tea while it’s still warm. And it’s probably not good for you to be holed up in there breathing in your own germs.  Come on out.” He stopped his scratching to reach for the mug of tea, and that loss of contact seemed to finally convince his boyfriend to come out.  

Percy emerged from his blanket cocoon with a discontent grumble.  His hair was a mess, one ear flipped inside out. Normally bright, sea-green eyes were hazy and unfocused as they blinked up at him, with a redness in the corners that matched the dry, reddened skin around his nose.  He looked like a disaster -- albeit an adorable and pouting one.  

“My throat hurts.”  He whined.  

“I know, that’s why I made you tea.”  Nico couldn’t resist chuckling. Percy Jackson, the hero of the titan war, slayer of giants and monsters, rendered into an oversized five year-old by a little common cold.  “Come on, sit up.” He helped Percy push himself up to a sitting position on the bed, propped up by several pillows, and tucked the blankets around him before pressing the mug of tea into his hands.  

“Thanks.”  Percy lightly bumped his head against Nico’s, letting his chocolate-colored dog ears brush against Nico’s black cat ears.  The son of Poseidon turned his head to press his nose against the soft fur-like hairs at the base of Nico’s ear, inhaling with audible difficulty.  He let out a disappointed sound and slumped against him. “Can’t smell you…” He complained.  

“Well, I can sure smell you, so after this, how about a bath?”  Nico helped him lift the mug up to his lips. “Drink, and inhale the steam.  It’ll help.”  

“Mm,” Percy did as he said, taking a long sip.  “This is good. What’re the little woody-looking bits?”  

“Freshly sliced ginger.  Works better than the ground stuff.”  Nico replied. He reached a hand up and around Percy’s back to scratch behind his ear again.  

Percy hummed in thanks and took another sip of tea, pausing to breathe in the steam rising from the mug.  “Can’t believe I got sick on this beautiful summer day…” He groused, glancing at the window where the sun was streaming in through the curtains of Cabin 3.  

“They say only dogs get sick during the dog days of summer.”  Nico teased.  

“That’s not true -- Jason’s a cat and he got sick last week.”  Percy said.  

“And then you two insisted on having a sparring contest and demonstrating grappling techniques for the younger campers.  Gosh, I wonder where on earth you picked up this cold from…” Nico deadpanned.

“It’s all Jason’s fault, isn’t it…” Percy muttered darkly into his mug.  

Nico frowned and lightly tugged on one of his ears in reprimand.  He knew Percy would regret saying such things about his friend once he was back in his right, un-fevered mind.  “Hey, it’s just as much your fault. You’ve been running yourself into the ground on missions. I’m not surprised it’s catching up with you.”  Granted, he wasn’t one to talk -- Nico was the one who had nearly shadow-traveled himself to death (literally) just a few summers ago. But he tried to be better at remembering to take breaks, ever since then.  It had been an exhausting and frightful experience, and he didn’t want to go through it again. In trying to protect everyone, he had almost lost everything.

Percy finished off the tea and even picked one of the slices of ginger off the side of the mug and chewed on it.  

“Gods, Perce, you don’t have to eat the raw ginger itself…” Nico sighed and shook his head, exasperated.  That couldn’t taste good.  

“‘S fine, I can’t really taste anything with my nose this stuffed up.”  Percy tipped the mug upside down and shook a few more pieces of ginger into his mouth.  “Besides, Will said ginger helps with nausea.”  

“You’re gonna sweat spices later.”  Nico snorted and took the cup from him.  “Speaking of which, you could do with a bath -- you’ve been sweating that illness out in your blanket cocoon for two days.”  

“Yeah, I probably should.”  Percy sighed. He looked as if he had been commanded by prophecy to complete some Herculean task, rather than asked nicely to perform a simple act of basic hygiene.   

“Do you need help?”  Nico asked.  

“No, I think I can handle a bath.”  Percy got to his feet, looking a little unsteady despite his words.  

“Shout if you need help or feel faint.”  Nico told him. “I’ll put on some fresh sheets and blankets for you.”  

He took the mug to the sink while Percy headed for the bathroom at the back of the cabin.  After washing the mug, he took the sheets off the bed and put them in the laundry hamper for the camp harpies to collect, then located the clean sheets in the linen closet and made up the bed.  He had heard the rush of water and pipes earlier, but the bathroom had been quiet for a while, so after he picked out a clean t-shirt and sweatpants from the closet, Nico knocked on the bathroom door.  “Percy, I brought you some clothes.” He listened, but heard only silence. He knocked again. “Perce? You okay in there?”  

Still no response, so Nico eased open the door and peeked inside.  The bathrooms of Cabin 3 were ridiculously large and opulent, with a huge, marble-tiled tub that was really more like a small swimming pool sunk into the floor in the corner beside two large windows overlooking the bay (windows that Chiron had ordered renovated into two-way mirrors after a number of incidents involving the water naiads).  Percy was laying back in this tub, his head resting on a rolled up towel at the edge, and he was fast asleep with his chin dipping toward his chest.  

“Oh for gods’ sake--” Nico huffed and set the stack of clothes on the sink counter.  Granted, Percy  _ couldn’t  _ drown, but that didn’t mean he should push his luck, either.  At the very least, he would end up all pruney, and then would probably be grumpy about it.  

Nico knelt down beside the sunken tub and touched his boyfriend’s shoulder.  “Percy, wake up.”

Percy woke with a start, blinking in surprise.  “I fell asleep?” He looked around in surprise.  

“Did you wash your hair yet?”  Nico asked, although he could clearly see he hadn’t.  There was a wet and soapy washcloth and a bottle of body soap on the tile beside the tub, so at least he had gotten halfway through his task.  

Percy lifted a hand out of the water and touched his hair, as if he hadn’t realized he forgot that before drifting off.  It was damp, but with two days of gross sickness-induced sweat. “I guess not…” 

“Sit forward, I’ll do it.”  Nico peeled off his socks before sitting cross-legged at the tiled edge of the tub.  Percy sat up and hugged his knees to his chest for some semblance of modesty, even though Nico wasn’t a stranger to that sight either.  

He cupped warm water in his hands and let it pour over dark brown locks, wetting them thoroughly before he reached for the shampoo bottle.  Careful not to get soap inside his ears, Nico lathered up Percy’s hair and worked his fingers against his scalp to really massage the soap into the roots.  Percy let out a pleased hum, his eyes falling shut as his head tipped back. Nico rubbed a bit of soap into the soft fur lining the backs of his ears, then followed it up with a scratch behind each one that, while it might not accomplish anything in terms of cleanliness, certainly did have the effect of making his boyfriend melt into his touch with a sigh.  

“You gonna fall asleep again?”  Nico teased softly, trailing his scratching fingers down the back of his head so he could gather up more soap suds and rub them over Percy’s shoulders and back.  

“Mm, probably.”  Percy folded himself over his drawn-up knees to grant him better access to his back.  “Hot water feels good. Feel like I can breathe better.”  

“I claim credit for at least half of that, with the tea.”  Nico dunked his hands into the water to wash off the suds, then tugged his boyfriend upright again so he could cup water over his head and rinse out the soap from his hair.  Percy hummed agreeably, though he was probably too far gone to pay much mind to the words.  

Once he was free of soap suds, Nico retrieved a large, fluffy, seafoam-green bath towel from the cabinet while Percy climbed out of the tub.  The soap suds and dirt were whisked away down the drain as fresh, clean bathwater trickled out of the fountain in the center -- no need for the tub to ever be drained and dry in the ocean god’s cabin, not when it could instead be more like a natural spring that somehow always magically kept itself clean.  

Nico wrapped the towel around Percy and dried him off, Percy whining that he wasn’t a child and he could do that himself.  “You fell asleep in the bath, babe. Clearly you need some help.” Nico reminded him.   

“It’s just a cold…” Percy protested, but he obediently held still while Nico stretched up onto his tip-toes and rubbed the towel over his hair and ears.  

“Shh.  You’re sick, let me take care of you.”  Nico told him. His tone was soft, yet at the same time brokering no room for argument.  

Percy flashed him a tired but grateful smile.  “Aw, Neeks, you’re being sweet.” He reached up to pet just behind Nico’s pointed cat ear.  With his still-wet fingers.  

Nico flicked his ear in mild irritation and dried his arm.  “Don’t get my ears wet.” He warned, but it was devoid of any real threat. 

“And the emo-lord is back.”  

“Just put your clothes on and get back into bed before you fall asleep standing up, Jackson.”  Nico pressed the clean clothes at him before going to hang up the towel.  

Once Percy was dressed in clean pajamas and swaying sleepily on his feet, Nico helped him back to bed and tucked the fresh, clean blankets around him.  

“Need anything else?”  Nico asked, brushing aside his hair to feet his forehead.  He was a little warm, but it very well could be from the bath.  “Tea, or something to eat? Soup?”  

“Not hungry.”  Percy wrapped his fingers around Nico’s wrist and brought it down to where he could link their fingers together.  “Sleep with me?”  

Nico had half a mind to tease him about the phrasing, but Percy was looking up at him with wide, innocent eyes, and he decided to give him a break.  “Alright, but if I get sick,  _ you  _ have to take care of  _ me _ .”  He climbed over his boyfriend and settled on the side of the bed beside the wall, spooning him from behind.  It was a warm summer day, and the only person who would willingly lay under that many blankets only did so because they were running a temperature, so Nico stayed on top of the blankets.  He did, however, throw a leg over Percy’s, and wrap an arm around his waist as he pressed close to his back.  

“I hope you don’t, for both our sakes.”  Percy mumbled. “I would, of course, but I bet you’re a grumpy, clingy mess when you get sick.”  

“I think you’re looking in a mirror.”  Nico poked him through the blankets, which probably didn’t have much effect.

“Am I an annoying, clingy mess?”  Percy asked, a thread of genuine worry in his voice that sounded wrong coming from him.  It was just the illness, but it still tugged at Nico’s heart.  

“No, you’re just a little under the weather.”  He reassured him and pressed a kiss to the back of his neck.  He smelled clean, now, like seabreeze shampoo and mineral spring water.  “Get some sleep, my little sick puppy.”  

“You… I’mma get you back for that… when I’m better…” Percy mumbled, already drifting off.  “Snarky emo kitten…” He barely got the sentence out before the words petered off into a snore.  At least he wasn’t quite as congested as he had been before.  

Nico rolled his eyes and settled down -- he could do with a nap himself.  It was still hard to believe that this was something real, that he was allowed to do.  He had spent so many years running from any chance at a relationship out of fear of being rejected, or believing that he didn’t deserve to be happy, that it felt strange to finally have it.  Even after a year of dating Percy, the realization that he was happy, and that he was  _ allowed  _ to be happy, sometimes snuck up on him and struck him from behind.  It was something so simple, that seemed to be natural to everyone. But Nico had spent so much time being alone and locking his feeling away in a dark box buried deep inside him, that being with someone felt… strange.  Good, but… overwhelming, sometimes. It took some getting used to. But Percy had always been patient and understanding, and willing to give Nico space when he needed it while still being near enough to be supportive. He respected the boundaries Nico put up when he was still afraid of this huge, nebulous, overwhelming thing called Love.  And that was why Nico was immediately ready to remind Percy of where his  _ own  _ boundaries were, when the son of Poseidon woke up feeling ill and tried to stagger out the door to do his camp duties anyway.  He loved Percy, as much as love itself scared him sometimes. So of course he didn’t hesitate to take care of his boyfriend when he needed him.  

And, he thought to himself as he hugged an arm around Percy’s middle and snuggled closer to join him in sleep, an afternoon nap in the sunlight with his boyfriend was something he wouldn’t dream of passing up.  Even if said boyfriend was still snoring a little from his stuffed-up nose.

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this work, please let me know with a comment! I've also got a [tumblr](http://goldleeaf.tumblr.com) if you'd like to follow me there. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!


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